Canada Debates Its Global Role amid Dwindling Military ; This Week, Canada Began Withdrawing Its 850 Troops from Kandahar, Afghanistan

Beaudan, Eric, The Christian Science Monitor

This weekend, Canada's 850 troops began their journey home from
Kandahar, where they have guarded the US airbase and led combat
operations for the first time since the Korean War.

On the long flight back, they had time to reflect on the untimely
death of four comrades mistakenly targeted by a US F-16 jet, and
their participation in Operation Anaconda during which snipers got
their first shot at fleeing Al Qaeda forces.

But the fact that Canadian troops had to hitch a ride home on US
aircraft underscores the gap between Canada's global peacekeeping
commitments and a shrinking military budget.

After years of serving as peacekeepers for the UN in remote
nations such as Eritrea, East Timor, and Bosnia, the Canadian Army
is now stretched to its limit. Many Canadians are asking whether
Canada, despite its reliable track record, can maintain its historic
military role. Many European countries are facing the same dilemma,
decrying US unilateralism but lacking the resources to steer the
global agenda.

"We are ready to fight with no capability to sustain," concluded
a Canadian Senate report in February. The size of the Canadian
forces has shrunk from 85,000 to 57,000 over the past 10 years.

"This far into World War II, Canada had 200,000 soldiers in
uniform," notes Scott Taylor, editor of Esprit de Corps in Ottawa.
"Right now there are 3,000 fewer people serving than as of 9/11."

To support troops in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Jean Chretien's
Liberal government doled out a one-time 2 percent increase for the
military. But pundits insist that to restore its full capabilities,
the military's annual budget needs to increase from its current C$12
billion (US$7.75 billion) to C$16 billion or C$17 billion (US$10.25
billion to US$11 billion).

The most serious deficiencies are in manpower and equipment.
Doctors, technicians, and engineers top the Army's most wanted list.
And with its regular forces involved in peacekeeping and war-on-
terror duties, the country needs to rely more on its reserves, but
that pool has shrunk as well. Canada's reserves once swelled to
50,000, but the number today is close to 18,000. For the first time
since it began peacekeeping duties, Canada will dispatch a full
infantry reserve company to Bosnia later this year.

Canada recently built a new class of frigates and acquired three
attack submarines from Britain. And its Air Force maintains a
capable fleet of CF-18 fighter aircraft. But other vessels and
aircraft are regularly being cannibalized for spare parts. …

The rest of this article is only available to active members of Questia

Print this page

While we understand printed pages are helpful to our users, this limitation is necessary
to help protect our publishers' copyrighted material and prevent its unlawful distribution.
We are sorry for any inconvenience.